Weekend Watch: Kaatrin Mozhi Vs Thimiru Pudichavan

This week, the Jyotika-starrer Kaatrin Mozhi, Vijay Anthony’s Thimiru Pudichavan, and Utharavu Maharaja compete at the Tamil box office. The M Padmakumar-directed Joseph will release in Malayalam and Amar Akbar Anthony and Taxiwaala in Telugu. Pihu is this week’s Bollywood release.

Kaatrin Mozhi

The official Tamil remake of the Vidya Balan-starrer Tumhari Sulu, Kaatrin Mozhi has Jyotika reprising the role of Balan. Jyotika plays Vijayalakshmi, a wife and mother who takes up her first job as the RJ of a late-night show. As in the Bollywood original, the new RJ soon finds she has to deal with her husband’s jealousy over her instant popularity among other things that compete for her attention. The Tamil remake features Vidharth as Jyotika’s husband.

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Also among the cast are Lakshmi Manchu and STR in a cameo. Radha Mohan directs, with music by AR Rahman’s nephew AH Kaashif.

Thimiru Pudichavan

This Vijay Anthony starrer was mired in controversy as it did not abide by the TFPC’s new rule of obtaining clearance for the release of small and medium budget films. Having missed its allotted date – November 6 – due to the big Deepavali release Sarkar, the film was called out for cutting the queue by producer of Kaatrin Mozhi G Dhananjayan and Nakul, the actor of Sei – the other movie that was supposed to release this week. Now, with Sei and Chithiram Pesuthadi 2 no longer in the race, Thimiru Pudichavan is all set to hit theatres tomorrow. Starring Vijay Anthony as a cop and Nivetha Pethuraj and Daniel Balaji in lead roles, the film is an action drama written and directed by Ganesha. Vijay Anthony has scored music, with cinematography by Richard M Nathan.

Utharavu Maharaja

From debutant director Asif Kuraishi, a self-proclaimed Hitchcock fan, Utharavu Maharaja is a psycho-thriller. Starring Udhaya, brother of director AL Vijay, and actor Prabhu in the lead, the film has music scored by Naren Balakumar. The actresses in the film are said to be new-comers, too.

Joseph

Directed by M Padmakumar, Joseph features actor Joju George in the lead. The first look of the film, released in June, featured Joju in an intense avatar; he’s said to be playing a retired police officer in the film. Dileesh Pothan, Malavika Menon, Soubin Shahir and others play prominent roles. Manesh Madhavan has handled the cinematography.

Amar Akbar Anthony

Featuring Ravi Teja in triple roles as Amar, Akbar and Anthony, this Sreenu Vaitla film sees Ileana D Cruz making a comeback to Telugu cinema after six years. The actress has also dubbed for herself in the movie. The trailer for the film, released recently, was all about exotic locales and Ileana who called herself ‘Mother Teresa’. This is Ileana’s fourth film with Teja after the 2012 Devudu Chesina Manushulu. The film has Vennela Kishore, Laya, Sunil, Abhimanyu Singh in pivotal roles. S Thaman has composed music.

Taxiwaala

With Vijay Deverakonda as a taxi driver, Taxiwaala is a ‘supernatural comedy thriller’ also starring Priyanka Jawalkar. According to reports, the film revolves around Vijay Deverakonda and a supernatural entity that becomes his passenger. A few days ago, the movie was released by the piracy site, Tamil Rockers, following which fans of Vijay Deverakonda expressed outrage on social media. Taxiwaala is directed by Rahul Sankrityan.

Pihu

A nightmare of another kind, Pihu revolves around a little girl who is left at home unattended, with little to no food or water. The trailer for the film shows the child on the brink of several accidents. Directed by Vinod Kapri and produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, the film stars Myra Vishwakarma, a two-year-old girl, in the role of Pihu.